The California Mille, a four-day, 1,000-mile homage to Italy’s historic Mille Miglia, will start off from the plaza in front of San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel Monday; and this year’s event is particularly bittersweet because for the first time in ages, its founder, Martin Swig, won’t be there. Mr. Swig died last July at his home in Sausalito, Calif., at the age of 78.

If there was ever an echt Car Guy, Martin Swig was it. He loved just about anything on wheels and paid special attention to automobiles made in Italy. He was a stalwart of the California car community and, by extension, of the world car community, by virtue of his many roles in automania – he was a new-car dealer, he was a collector of old cars, he wrote about cars for the Nob Hill Gazette and he could be seen at a myriad of concours d’elegance, auctions and the historic car races at Sears Point or Laguna Seca, chatting with friends, scrutinizing old cars and generally having a great deal of fun.

So it is no surprise that the 23d annual California Mille, kicking off at 8:30 a.m. Monday (April 29), will be dedicated to Martin Swig. His two sons, David Swig and Howard Swig, both vintage car buffs, along with longtime rally organizer Dan Radowicz, plan to keep the California Mille going.

On Sunday (April 28), there will be a preview of the more than four dozen cars entered in the rally. They will be parked on the block of Mason Street in front of the Fairmont Hotel. The display is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Following the rules of the original Mille Miglia, the cars are restricted to the years the Mille Miglia ran, from 1927 to 1957. So there will be a sprinkling of nearly every exotic car than could have run in that rally – from a 1927 Rally ABC to a couple of 1957 Jaguar XK150s.

The rally will travel over 1,000 miles of Northern California back roads, ending in Calistoga on May 2.

Here’s a complete list of the California Mille’s entrants and the entrants’ home cities: